Tashua Family Weekly Update

Dear Tashua Families,

It has been another fabulous week at Tashua School! We are excited to be ending the week with our Back-to-School Picnic hosted by the Fathers' Club this evening from 5:00 - 7:00 PM on the playground. We look forward to seeing many of you tonight!

As a reminder, Trumbull Public Schools provides parents and guardians with Infinite Campus access to view student's report cards, attendance, make payments and more. New families should have received an email with instructions and an activation code in August. If you have not yet activated your account, please use the link: Infinite Campus and click Campus Parent.

New this school year, parents now have the ability to report full day absences, late arrivals and early dismissals via their Infinite Campus Parent Portal using the mobile app or website in place of calling the school attendance line. For specific directions please use the link: Using Parent Portal to Report Absences/Tardies and Early Dismissals.

For more information, TPS will host a virtual workshop on Friday, September 20 at 8:30AM. To access the Google meet, please click the link: Parent Portal Power Up.

Assessments

Beginning September 16th through October 8, 2024, students in Grades K - 3 will begin our districtwide DIBELS testing. DIBELS is a universal screener that asses the acquisition of foundational literacy skills.

As a reminder, students in Grades 2 - 5 will continue to take our district-wide iReady testing until September 25, 2024. We encourage all students to put forth their best effort so we can obtain meaningful data so we can target each child's instructional needs.

National Hispanic Heritage Month

Friday, September 13

Back to School Family Picnic 5:00-7:00 PM - Hosted by our Tashua's Fathers Club

Sunday, September 15

Hispanic Heritage Month Begins - 9/15

Tuesday, September 17

Citizenship Day/Constitution Day

Wednesday, September 18

Picture Day

Saturday, September 21

International Day of Peace

World Gratitude Day

Sunday, September 22

First day of Autumn

Tuesday, September 24

Board of Education Meeting; 7:00 PM

Wednesday, September 25

PTA Meeting; 7:30 PM

Thursday September 26

Districtwide ML Parent/Guardian Info Night; 6:00 PM

Elementary afternoon conferences are scheduled for October 22nd and October 24th, which will be early release days for students. Evening conferences are scheduled for November 7th. These conferences will give you an opportunity to learn more about your child’s effort and academic progress in school. This is also a chance to offer your insights about how your child learns best and to discuss ways to work together to ensure your child’s success at school.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be scheduled using the on-line scheduling system School Appointments. Our sign-up window will be open on Thursday, September 5th at 8:00 PM and close Friday, October 11th at 12:00 AM.

Instructions Schedule your Parent-Teacher Conferences:

1. Go to Tashua school appointments: https://tashua.schoolappointments.com/
2. Register for an account by clicking the "REGISTER" menu tab and filling in the on-line form. Choose a user id and password for yourself and then click the "Register Now" button.
3. Add your child into the system by clicking the "Add a Student" button. Click "Insert New" button to add more children.
4. Click the "Book Appointment" icon beside each child's name to schedule appointments. Select your child’s teacher to book an appointment. Click on the available time slot to book your appointment and click view appointment to confirm

Tashua's Picture Day is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18th. You should have received a flyer in your child's folder this week. To order school pictures, please use the link Tashua 2024 Photos and use the CODE: tau24.

Please note the following:

• Individual and class photos will be taken
• The link to order is active until October 2nd
• After October 2nd, families who did not order photos will have the option to order from a proof card but pricing will be higher as photos will be shipped directly to the parent's address provided.
• If there are siblings in the same school, you may enter the next child's name after placing the first child's package in the cart. The system will ask if you have another child's order to place.
• Robert Taylor offers a 3rd child free package for the district for Pre-K thru 11th grade (Seniors are not included). If there are 3 siblings in different schools, you may prepay the first and second child's orders in each school's prepay. Email the studio at roberttaylorphotostudio@gmail.com or call 203-377-0739 to get the 3rd child free. This special offer is only available during the prepay period.

Please use the links below to access the TPS Elementary breakfast and lunch menus. Please note that menu options are subject to change.

Elementary Meal Pricing

Elementary Breakfast Menu

Elementary Lunch Menu

Go to www.myschoolbucks.com for more information regarding creating an account and adding funds electronically. You can also send checks made out to "Trumbull Food Services" in your child's folder.

Summer Math:

• Deadline: 9/13. Use the link: Summer Math Exit Ticket (Downloadable Packet and Answer Key can be found here for your entering grade level)
• Deadline 9/13: Use the link: CT Commissioner's Summer Math Challenge 2024 Form

Summer Reading Challenges:

• Deadline 9/13: Governor's Challenge and the First Selectman's Challenge
• Deadline 9/25: If you child participated in the Tashua Summer Reading Bingo Project, please send in your complete "BINGO" card.

We welcomed the newest Tigers to Tashua School! They are thriving and loving their new school. They are really enjoying the daily playground time, browsing through lots of books and exploring materials in math workplaces.

Third Grade is off to a great start to the school year! We’ve been learning our new routines and getting to know our new classmates. We have begun learning multiplication during math as well as exploring the new Math lab with Mrs. Gidwani. In reading, we are building our knowledge of how books can teach us so much while enhancing our vocabulary. In Science, we are beginning our weather unit and look forward to experimenting with tools that teach us how meteorologists forecast.

Heart Words Take Shape

By Mrs. Hatstat & Mrs. Kingston

Sight words? High frequency words? Trick words? Heart words? What do all these terms mean? The term “sight words” is often confused with “high frequency words” which are also called “trick words” in our Fundations program. I know, it’s very confusing! Let’s start by defining these terms:

Sight words - words that you can recognize effortlessly such as your name, familiar stores or brands. They are unique to each individual based on your experiences and exposures.

High frequency words - words that appear most often in text. Some of these words follow a phonetic pattern and can be easily sounded out and spelled such as “like” or “she”, while others are irregular and have a “tricky” part that does not follow a pattern such as “said” or “was.”

This is where the term “heart word” takes shape. We used to think that the only way to learn irregularly spelled high frequency words was to memorize them, but now we know the brain works best when it can map the letters and sounds to store into long term memory. Below you will see an example of how a student would map an irregular word.

In the word “said” there are two parts of the word that play fair - the ‘s’ and the ‘d’ - meaning they make the sound we associate with those letters. While the ‘ai’ does not play fair in that they do not make the sound we would expect. In this case, we will tell our students the letters that make the irregular sound and have them put a heart under those letters. We would have them practice the word by repeating the spelling of the word as they write it.

Here are some additional resources that can further explain the research behind the shift in thinking about high frequency words and the new strategies we will be using with students to support their growth in both spelling and reading these words.

Still Confused About Sight Words Vs. High Frequency Words: You Aren't Alone

A New Model for Teaching High Frequency Words

Heart Words: A Better Way to Teach Sight Words

Congratulations to Conor Orloski, Stella Xhafa and Chloe Lotkin for winning the chance to spin the P.B.I.S. Recognition Wheel. Keep showing your T.I.G.E.R.S. traits!

Tashua third grade students Cooper Olsen, AJ De Los Santos and Max Fonte started their fall travel baseball season with the Technique Tigers 9U team. Best wishes for a great season!

Dear Tashua Parent/Guardian,

Below are links to the Medication Authorization Forms for the upcoming 2024-25 school year.

• Medication and Health forms
• Back to school information
• Medication Authorization Form

• Asthma care plan
• Emergency Care Plan for Food and or Insect Allergy

The third week in September is historically the highest impact week of the year for asthma

For resources on asthma, check out Managing Asthma in Schools: A Guide for Parents

Brenda Chamale RN BSN

Tashua Elementary School Nurse

P: 203 452-4434

F: 203 452-4432

bchamale@trumbullps.org

PTA Meeting

Please join us for our very first PTA meeting Thursday, September 25th at 7:30PM in the Library. We strongly encourage this year’s chairs to attend we would love to hear all of your ideas!

After School Enrichment

Registration begins TOMORROW September 12th (Space is Limited)!

Beginning September 30th we will be offering After School Enrichment programs for grades K-5. Enrollment will open to members of the PTA first, then non members after. Please use the following link for more information Tashua Fall ASE

Fundraising

It's that time of year again! Support Tashua School and get gorgeous holiday photos done in one spot. Held at Twin Brooks you can capture fun fall moments or special family milestones. Book now for October 19th & 20th with rain dates of October 26th & 27th

https://victorialeephotographyllc.pixieset.com/booking/tashuaminisession

The Fall Fundraiser through Cherrydale is almost upon us! This is a great way to support Tashua and our fundraising goals for the year. Order great holiday and treat options from Otis Spunkmeyer and Hometown Holiday catalogs. Packets will be distributed by your teachers in the coming weeks.

Decorating your front porch?! Please use the link below to order your fall mums! Orders are accepted through Tashua Membership Toolkit or you can use the form: Tashua Fall Mum Plant Sale Order Form

PTA Committee Interest Form

HELP! We are in a real need of some help for some of our committees, especially Adult Night Out! Please fill out the link below for express your interest in joining a committee, or even helping us chair these committees! Current chairs and co chairs are all set for this upcoming year, this interest form is to fill in the gaps or find chairs for next year PTA Committee Interest Form

Membership

It’s that time of year again! Please take a moment to log onto membership toolkit to register or renew your membership. Please remember that being a member is not about a commitment of time or money but to show our amazing Tashua community support and allow us do all of the amazing activities, events, and fun to our school!

PTA Contact

Dani Romano, PTA president: dani-romano2224@gmail.com

K-12 students in Connecticut have the opportunity to enter the Competition and be awarded a scholarship of up to $20,000 to help pay for their future education! This competition is brought to you by the Connecticut State Treasurer’s Office as Trustee of the Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET).

This year, they will be awarding almost $350,000 in CHET 529 College Savings Plan – Direct Plan (“CHET 529 Direct Plan”) account contributions to students in grades K-12 and technology prizes to schools. For the winning students, we will be awarding:

• Three prizes of $20,000
• 24 prizes of $5,000
• 239 prizes of $500

To enter, students are asked to answer a question by submitting a drawing or painting, essay, or video. Younger students will be asked to answer a question focusing on lessons they’ve learned and their dreams for the future, and older students will be asked about an experience or person that has impacted them and how that will influence their future goals. Submissions must be uploaded by 11:59 p.m. on November 4. There is no cost to enter. For program details, rules and the entry process, visit: www.chetdreambig.com

Downloadable entry forms and flyers are available on the website as well.

A school in your district could be a winner too! Each school that is represented by at least one student’s entry will be eligible for a random drawing for a technology prize worth $5,000 (a total of 10 schools will win a technology prize). Please see the 2024 Competition Official Rules for more information on prize structure and awards.

If you have any questions, please email asavio@mintz-hoke.com. And thank you for your support!

Amanda Savio
The CHET Dream Big! Competition Team

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void outside CT and where prohibited. Open to legal U.S. residents residing in Connecticut who are at least 18 years old and are the parents or legal guardians of a student currently enrolled in a Connecticut school, grades K-12 as of 8/15/24. Begins 9:00 a.m. ET on 8/15/24; ends 11:59 p.m. ET on 11/04/24. Prizes will be a contribution to an eligible CHET 529 Direct Plan Account established for the benefit of the child whose parent or legal guardian submitted a winning entry. CHET Advisor 529 Accounts are not permitted for receipt of a prize. For Official Rules and eligibility, visit chetdreambig.com Sponsor: Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC, 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917.

Tashua Elementary School

401 Stonehouse Road Trumbull, CT 06611

203-452-4433

TPS School Calendar

2024-2025 School Calendar

Tashua School Hours

Doors open at 8:20 AM

Regular School Hours: 8:35 AM - 3:20 PM

Early Dismissal Hours: 8:35 AM - 1:00 PM

Delayed Opening Hours

2 ½ hour Delay – 11:05 AM – 3:20 PM

Infinite Campus

Parent Portal

Tashua Parent Handbook

2024-2025 Tashua Parent Handbook

Volunteer Forms

Volunteer Form Tier 1

Volunteer Form Tier II If you will be volunteering UNSUPERVISED, please complete a Tier II form which includes a DCF Background Check. Please use this form: